Well, I understand the bad feeling, that a friend could have told your daughter about the Questbridge opportunity, but chose not to. However, it also sounds like the friend may have gotten her hopes up a little too high. As other posters pointed out, Questbridge is not the golden ticket to an Ivy that she may think it is. There are other things to be considered. Don’t let anyone tell your daughter not to apply where she wants to apply. If she fits the stats of an Ivy that she likes, she should go for it. There is also the possibility of going to another college and trying again for that dream school as a transfer. And there is grad school. Then again, there are sooo many great colleges in this country that aren’t Ivies . . . I personally know a couple of kids that went to highly selective schools because they play water polo (in addition to having the requisite grades and test scores). How is that fair? My daughter’s high school doesn’t even offer water polo . . . J/k – just in case anyone thinks I am serious.
Who is telling you an Ivy is impossible? As Cardinal Fang pointed out, the Ivies are on the lookout for low income high achievers. See: https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3801/wanted-smart-students-from-poor-families
I have heard of school counselors telling students who would have had a shot not to apply. There is no harm in applying. The worst that could happen would be a result shared with more than 90% who apply, i.e., not getting in. If she doesn’t apply, then yes, it would be impossible.
I agree.
Definitely!
I don’t blame you for being upset. I know how lousy it feels when one thinks that the powers that be are dispensing favors and giving assistance to other kids at the expense of one’s own deserving child. But you have to get beyond it. You have a big advantage in that you have found CC, and the parents here can give you the kind of information that the vast majority of parents do not have.
I would suggest that you can start by answering the questions we asked you in your thread about Ivies!
The girl told my D that since she was accepted to their junior year program, that she had an excellent change of being accepted to the final, senior year program. I don’t really know how it all works though. Yes, trying to move beyond it, but if you can’t vent here on CC with people who get it, where can you?
Better to vent here than IRL.
The good thing is that this other students applications to colleges have nothing to do with your daughter’s.
So…get her list together…and get those applications submitted. And remember to get any applications submitted early enough for merit consideration at schools where that is a possibility.
Check every single deadline for both admissions materials and financial aid materials.
Good luck!
But your daughter missed that opportunity. There is nothing that you can do about it now. So what, her friend went to the junior year College prep program. It does not mean that she will be a finalist or a match.
Don’t cry over spilled milk. Work on the here and now; help your child to compile her list and do her.
Yes, CC is a good place to vent disappointment. Better than than venting to everyone around you at work, or wherever, IMO. The people here do get it. At the same time, they will, each in his way, try to help you move on. That’s CC.
You’re overestimating how much QuestBridge helps students get accepted. Applying through QuestBridge instead of the Common App does NOT raise one’s chances significantly. If someone doesn’t get into a college the regular way, chances are they wouldn’t have gotten in through QuestBridge either.
Having a rich aunt doesn’t mean you’re not low income. How do you know the aunt has $60k a yr to give to her niece for tuition? There is a big difference between treating someone to a vacation and paying for 4 yrs of college.
I kind of understand what she means. The FAFSA (or CSS) asks for your OTHER sources of money for college. This is where you are supposed to disclose contributions from grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, and anyone else. If you disclose that your aunt is contributing $60k/year, then you are not eligible for FA. And if you are living wit the aunt in a nice house in a nice, safe neighborhood, and are getting trips, lessons, and other benefits of an upper-middle-class life from the aunt, then the student has not been disadvantaged by a low-income environment.
The aunt might pay for vacation to avoid the single premium. On some vacation, couple is better than single.
I’d really hesitate to believe anything your daughter’s “friend” says about her advantages and chances. I’ve seen an awful lot of friends put down others to make themselves look better, or pump themselves up by discouraging friends. Just last night my kids were telling me about their friend who’s making a big deal about how she’s low income and needs help paying for college…but the friend has a new iPhone and a new car, while mine have neither. They have another friend who has had college paid for since before she was born, and can’t understand that cost is a consideration for some people.
If you compare yourself to others, you can make yourself miserable. Just control what you can.
Questbridge applicants use the QB application which some of the upper echelon schools don’t really care for from what we have heard since it lacks all the supplements. There is no way for the student to differentiate their interest in various schools which can be really important for the top schools. There are always people who will work the system. My son has a friend doing Questbridge whose father is retiring and will only have social security income even though he owns his home with no mortgage that is worth 800K, brand new nice cars for the whole fam, and I’m sure has plenty in his retirement accounts which is all protected from the financial aid process. Not how QB is intended to be used either but totally legal.
“The bump comes from being high achieving low income and you have that bump as a Questbridge applicant or as a regular applicant.”
That’s right. But in general, taking a 17-year-old’s secondhand word for anything is a mistake. You don’t know what’s really going on.
My brother gives my kids all kinds of things, including clothing and trips, pays for a cell phone for one, sometimes sends them spending money at school. He’s very generous. However, he has not handed me tuition money or offered to pay for a tutor or summer class or the meal plan at college; I would never expect him to.
The financial disclosures can only assess the general picture of a family’s finances. The school can’t judge whether a student really needs more FA because that family has to pay for a beach house for a vacation while another student gets to stay with friends for free, or if the first family loves to shop at Whole Foods while the other family has the coupon queen for a shopper and spends 1/8 what the first family does on food. The formulas just assume an average for everyone. OP’s daughter may have a friend with a generous aunt, and OP may have a cousin who willpass down designer clothes or do car repairs for free. Everyone has different circumstances, good and bad.
@WannaBeInMD Out of curiosity, did your daughter’s friend make the QB finalists?
You can use the qb app and still complete a supp. The nice aspect is it’s a longer app, as said, more chance to show yourself and your family situation.
But agree, it’s no guarantee. If this kid has no activities, she has a hill to climb.
Use this opp to ensure your D’s own app is solid. For Ivies, it’s more than grades, scores, and a few hs roles. Be sure you know what each looks for.
And since OP said this friend and her mom live with the aunt, this does sound like a bit more than some enrichment here and there.
She found out she was a finalist today. I can’t help but think of the kids who didn’t make it and may need it more than she does.
@WannaBeInMD just because the student was chosen as a finalist does not mean she will Match. So while yes that student has overcome the first hurdle she by no means is a guarantee for anything past this point.
And if she was selected it was based on her merit.